Putin’s Aide Meets Iran’s Top Security Official In Tehran

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special assistant met Iran's Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani in the capital Tehran.

According to Iranian state media, Russia's Igor Levitin and the Islamic Republic’s top security official discussed Moscow’s readiness to invest in Iran’s oil, petrochemicals, and steel industries. 

The two reportedly also discussed ways to thwart Western sanctions through ditching the dollar in their bilateral transactions, claiming that this would weaken the US currency. 

Expressing satisfaction with the volume of economic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow, Shamkhani praised "the path that started to reduce the influence of the dollar in regional and international economic exchanges." 

One of the points discussed was the ongoing joint project, the North-South Transport Corridor, which the Iranian official described as having a "decisive role in changing the geometry of transportation in the region." 

During Levitin's visit to Iran last January, the two countries agreed that the remaining part of the North-South strategic corridor, in Iran’s northern Rasht-Astara route, will be built with the direct investment of Russia. The North-South Transport Corridor is a network for moving freight between Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan and other countries in Asia and Europe. 

Tehran keeps boasting about its long-term strategic cooperation deals with Russia and China, but such deals have not yet borne any tangible results, despite several meetings among senior officials of the countries.